The Caparukala
"Soul of the Mountain" Caparukala family motto Almost all of the noble families in the Windshorn Mountains decided to surrender their titles and refuse to join the Empire even after the annexation of their territories, leading to a massive influx of disenfranchised Sons of Heaven and minor samurai families in the province to setup their personal lordships. But a few noble families did see the greatness of the Empire and decided to swear allegiance, keeping some of their territory and winning the eternal hatred of their compatriots. The Caparukala were an ancient rival family to the Capa, the traditional king of the mountain, the actual name “Caparukala” meaning “Rivals/Enemies to the Capa”, so it was actually not that huge of a surprise for them to turn their back on their ancient enemy. Prior to the Imperial Conquest, they had been embroiled in a multitude of political marriages, underhanded schemes to claim the throne and even one or two open rebellions, even though many of those could simply be attributed to “enemies of the Capa” rather than the family itself. During the actual conquest, members of that family gave a token resistance to the Imperial advance, as opposed to most other Mountain nationals which fought tooth and nail against them. Many thought that the Rukala would be granted overlorship over the territory, but the fact that they were not of Sons of Heaven blood, along with their generally bad skills at politic, made them a very unlikely choice for the Imperial commanders in charge, which granted them a relatively rich piece of land near the far-western new border of the Empire, where a few units of the Legion would be permanently stationed anyways. While they did make multiple territorial claims over the year, many of them backed by ancient writs and edicts dating from prior to the Imperial Conquest, their overall territory remained more or less the same, except for minor expansion outside of the official border of the Empire into small outposts and supporting small villages near the border. A few of Caparukala’s troops were assigned to other regions of the Empire as part of common exchange programs or as part of the Imperial Legion, which did bring a lot of good to the family and its beleaguered vassals, learning of other cultures and of new technology and societies. This in turn allowed the Rukala to modernize local infrastructure and cultural institutions, which made them generally more popular with the regional population. The Caparukala family The family and vassals of the Caparukala are far from typical Imperial citizens. Intermarriage with the local peasantry and “outsiders” (like Legion personnel or travelling merchants) is quite common, with the purity of the line barely being a concern. Sons and daughters of the Enemies have very few choice of future career, most of them simply joining the House Guard after a few years training in a local dojo, sometimes going to major Imperial centers for their military education, guaranteeing them a place as an officer in the House Guard. A few of the most promising youth manage to join the Imperial legion, which sometimes enjoy the mountaineering skills of the young Caparukala. To become a member of the Imperial Bureaucracy is usually considered a crazy dream, as no local teachers can prepare a youngster of the Standardized Exams, but sometimes a smart and skilled son or daughter of the Enemies will be taken in a larger Imperial school and given a chance for success. A few members of the family decide to take up religious study, mainly focusing on the study of local spirits, but the Kindai have been gaining ground locally and many of the more physically and mentally fitter decide to join the Temples to perfect their techniques. Lordship and territory The Caparukala are officially Imperial vassals, but their status means that any Sons of Heaven could easily come up and claim their territory using the ancient rights, so nowadays they rely mostly on their close association with the bakufu to keep their territory under their control and control legal and taxation duty very closely, giving nothing for the Mikado to find out of the ordinary with them. The land they control is fairly poor in regards to agriculture, the local peasants relying on terrace farming of corn, llama and alpaca herding and supplement their alimentation with guinea pigs (which is rarely exported), but there are a few very lucrative silver and gemstone mines hiding in the gulches and valleys, closely guarded by the Caparukala’s house guard and Imperial Legion, which makes up for the bulk of the regional exports. The beautiful views and “exotic” locale also drives up tourism amongst the wealthy, which come to experience something completely different from the typical “Imperial experience”. The small colonies established outside of the Imperial borders bring in wheat and barley into the Mountain, rare imports that can easily be sold for large amounts, but this is very close to illegality in regards to global international law, which makes things difficult for the Caparukala at time. Military strength is definitely not the greatest strength of the Caparukala. They do maintain a house guard, composed of traditional Mountain soldiers, lightly armored and armed with long spears and short, broad slashing sabers, along with a few groups of more “typical” Imperial samurai, armed with longbows, but carrying long spears rather than the katana. The large majority of their House Guard is used to guard the precious mines that make up the bulk of the economic activity in the region or the caravans that bring them to the centers of trade of the Windshorn Mountain. Usually shunned by the locals, they have a hard time maintaining a standing army to defend their borders, relying on Imperial, Oghazak and Eled mercenaries, which goes against most Imperial military doctrine. Luckily for them, two detachment of the Imperial legion are usually stationed near the border in permanent encampment, so even though they wouldn’t defend them from “local” threats, they often take care of brigandism, Kindai incursion or other foreign forces that would threaten them. Rivals and enemies The biggest enemy of the Caparukala are other former local nobles and the general population of the Mountain, who still views them as the biggest traitors possible. Many peasant revolts in and out of their territory can be traced back to anger against their initial turning of coat. The deferential attitude of the Caparukala makes them a general friend with most of the Imperial authorities however, except for some of the other local samurai lords, who view them as inferior due to their origin, but there are very few open conflicts that ever happen under the nose of the Imperial Legion. The Kindai Theocracy, however, has taken a dislike to them due to their building of settlements within what they consider “their” territory, even though they technically have no claim to the region where they are settled. Category:Great Families Category:Imperial Category:Windshorn Mountains